Somali Piracy

UK House of Lords Select Committee states naval 'Operation Atalanta' has turned the tide on Somali pirates but should extend.
The House of Lords EU Committee for External Affairs has praised the success of Operation Atalanta in curbing piracy off the Somali coast. However, they say that the operation must be extended beyond its current end date of December 2014 if it is to make a lasting difference in combating the threat.
The Committee say that Operation Atalanta has made clear progress in reducing the number of ships pirated, with only 8 vessels and 215 hostages held in June 2012 compared to 23 vessels and 501 hostages in the same month in 2011.
Nonetheless the report makes clear that it is vital this effort is extended beyond 2014 to show the EU will not walk away from confronting piracy in the Indian Ocean. Otherwise organisations and individuals that organise piracy will simply wait out the operation before returning to their previous activities.
Other findings in the report include:
• Somali piracy will never be completely eradicated until the root causes of the problems in the country are addressed. The Committee welcome EU efforts to increase aid to the country and say that aid should be focused on providing alternative livelihoods for the Somali people to reduce the incentives to engage in piracy.

Piracy remains a major issue, especially for Greek owners, says the Club.
The Hellenic War Risks Club is celebrating its 50th year of operation in 2011. The Association’s founding Directors, which included J C Carras, J E G Kulukundis, C M Lemos, D J Chandris and F P Lykiardopulo, recognised a need for Greek shipowners to come together on a mutual basis to provide the most competitive war risk insurance premiums, which, at the time, were difficult and expensive to obtain

The International Chamber of Commerce’s International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has revealed that piracy on the world’s seas is at its lowest first-quarter level since 2007, but warns that the threat is still present.
The latest IMB Piracy Report, published today, shows 49 piracy incidents in the first quarter of 2014 – the lowest first quarter figure since 2007, when 41 incidents were recorded.
In the first three months, two vessels were hijacked, 37 vessels boarded

International Maritime Bureau reported that piracy is at a six year low, but maritime security company GoAGT said now it is not the time to lose focus on security, especially with a serious attack on two ships occurring just a month ago.
Nick Davis, CEO of the company, said, “While the report should be welcomed, this is certainly not the time to consign Somali piracy to history. Too many factors that encouraged its initial development remain in place

www.SaveOurSeafarers.com (SOS), the international anti-piracy initiative backed by 30 of the world’s largest maritime organisations, is to lobby support from business leaders to increase international pressure on Governments to take firmer action against Somali piracy.
This violence and hostage-taking is costing the world economy an estimated $12 billion a year. SOS SaveOurSeafarers Campaign Chair Giles Heimann

Seafarers’ organisations, shipping companies together with business leaders and the biggest ever grouping of shipping industry associations, which have joined forces to campaign against Somali piracy, have received a welcome boost from the British and Philippine Governments confirming their support for the global SOS SaveOurSeafarers campaign.
In the UK, correspondence between members of the SOS campaign and the British MP Henry Billingham, Minister for Africa, the UN

Suspect Pirates Apprehended by EU Naval Force Flagship Transferred To The Seychelles.
On 29 January 2014, international collaboration in the fight against piracy resulted in the transfer of five men by the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta flagship, FS Siroco, to the Republic of Seychelles, with the aim of prosecuting them for acts of piracy.
On Saturday 18 January, FS Siroco, in cooperation with Japanese assets in support of the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF/CTF 151)

Understanding Trends & Tendencies in the Gulf of Guinea
Gulf of Guinea piracy presents a radically different picture compared with Somali piracy. Since decades it has been a kaleidoscopic mix of short duration hijackings, militant disruptions, kidnappings, robberies and thefts, depending on the location and the setting. It was not until recently, however, that piracy in the region attracted significant international media attention due to the increase in hijackings of product tankers in

Somalia's government signed a deal with a US maritime security firm to fight rampant piracy in the waters off its unpatrolled coast, according to a report in the Taipei Times.
Waters off the coast of Somalia are considered among the most dangerous in the world.
Pirates firing rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns earlier this month tried to board a US-owned cruise liner about 160km off the Somali coast.
New York-based Topcat Marine Security Inc signed a deal worth more than $50

Piracy off the Somali Coast falls to lowest levels in years as result of tough measures on land & at sea.
As Kenyan Defense Forces continue to weaken Al-Shabaab on the ground in Somalia, new reports indicates Somali pirates off the coast have similarly been weakened this year. According to the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Center, “The number of ships signaling attacks by Somali pirates has fallen this year [2012] to its lowest since 2009

Somali pirates have freed four Thai nationals seized from a fishing vessel at sea in 2010, ending the longest-running hostage drama in the Horn of Africa state, the United Nations said on Friday.
At one time Somali pirates made millions of dollars in ransoms from seizing ships but

Turkish parliament’s approval to extend the mandate of Turkish Naval Forces in NATO's operation in the Gulf of Aden for one more year is strategically important, says a report in the Journal of Turkish Weekly.
The region is critical for Turkey's foreign trade activities.

The maritime environment has presented a complex and challenging operating environment for all of human history. Piracy has been the most dangerous threat for seafarers.
The first prize winner of 2015 CIMSEC (Center for International Maritime Security) High School Essay Contest

The Danish government on Thursday announced a new three-year strategy for combatting piracy and armed robbery at sea.
The Danish Foreign Ministry said that that the nation will expand its scanning into the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of Nigeria

U.K.-based marine intelligence firm Dryad Maritime has said that maritime crime incidents in the Gulf of Guinea decreased 18% year on year in 2014 when compared to 2013.
Attacks aimed at kidnapping crew members of the vessels increased in the region

The MPHRP highlights the hardship inflicted upon seafarers and families.
Responding to recent reports on current levels of international maritime piracy, the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Program (MPHRP) noted the trend that they appear to avoid the word "piracy" in

Attacks against small tankers off South East Asia’s coasts caused a rise in global ship hijackings, up to 21 in 2014 from 12 in 2013, despite piracy at sea falling to its lowest level in eight years, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has revealed

Piracy, armed attacks on ships in Asia at highest since 2006.
Asia accounted for three-quarters of global maritime piracy last year after a surge in tanker hijackings helped to fuel a 22 percent jump in armed robbery and pirate attacks on ships in the region.

Does piracy off the coast of South-East Asia pose a threat? The answer is yes. Shipping lanes in Southeast Asia, one of the world’s busiest trade routes, have been hit by a “worrying new rise” in piracy. How is maritime piracy threatening South-East Asia and to what

On Thursday 8 January, a counter-piracy exercise was carried out jointly by the Seychelles Coast Guard, Air Force and Police together with the EU Naval Force Somalia – Operation Atalanta-, and the EU’s civilian maritime security capacity building Mission, EUCAP Nestor.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has joined other maritime organisations in expressing concern over the decision to compensate convicted Somali pirates.
These criminals have been responsible for taking hostage thousands of seafarers

Denmark has compensated nine Somalis suspected of trying to hijack a Danish ship in 2013 because they were detained too long before being brought before a judge, the public prosecutor's office said on Monday.
Each defendant received $3,247 for the 13 days they were detained

Somali pirate attacks down by 95 pct since 2011 -Maritime bureau.
Cash-strapped maritime security firms are being forced to use fewer costly elite guards and to diversify into other businesses such as cyber security, as a steep decline in Somali pirate attacks and hotter competition erode

The 4th prosecutors from around the Horn of Africa and Western Indian Ocean region have gathered in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, for the Third Regional Conference of Prosecutors dealing with Piracy and other Maritime Crime. They were joined by key international players working on capacity building

Somali pirates have freed seven Indian sailors detained for close to four years in exchange for an undisclosed ransom, Somali officials and a maritime monitoring group said on Friday.
At one time the pirates made millions of dollars in ransoms from seizing ships sailing the Horn of Africa